Voter suppression, Texas style

No doubt you have heard about the suspicious fire that caused All voting equipment for Houston, Harris County destroyed in 3-alarm fire. The Republicans want to suppress the vote and have been doing everything they can get by with for decades. More on the history of this problem to follow, but the latest effort has been exposed.

What do right-wingers do when they want to pretend to be a grass-roots organization? They manufacture it, with heavy funding, and Photoshop some old signs to make it look current! It’s quite a read, and I suggest you read it and see the photos. It’s good for a laugh and they were caught!

Glenn Smith from Huffington Post is leading the charge on the biggest voter suppression effort this election cycle taking place in Houston and he exposes the latest effort in Right-Wing Voter Suppression Effort Caught Using Doctored Photo (VIDEO, PHOTOS) where he continues after his previous post Possible Arson and the Right’s Texas Voter Suppression Effort.

A right-wing group in Houston engaged in a systematic voter suppression and intimidation effort used a doctored photo in its showcase video. Tellingly, a hand-lettered sign carried by an African-American woman at a 2000 Florida, Gore-Lieberman recount rally was changed from, “Don’t Mess With Our Vote,” to read, “I Only Got to Vote Once.”

Huffington Post editors first suspected the photoshopping after I posted “Possible Arson and the Right’s Texas Voter Suppression Effort” regarding King Street Patriots’ attacks on a nonprofit voter registration effort and the mysterious fire that destroyed all of Harris County’s (Houston) voting machines.

The fire happened just months before the general elections on November 2, which include the governor’s race and redistricting due to population shifts that will will hand Texas several new congressional seats. This election will decide the players who will draw new lines in redistricting. Houston is the nation’s fourth largest city, Harris County is the most populous county in Texas. The former Mayor of Houston, Democrat Bill White, is running against secessionist Republican Gov. Rick Perry this year. White should expect a big turnout in his home town. The fire and the voter suppression campaign guarantee a greatly diminished turnout. A new pollTexas Watch Poll: Perry 42%, White 41%; shows White and Perry neck and neck.

A statewide public opinion survey conducted by Republican polling firm Hill Research Consultants on behalf of the Texas Watch Foundation reveals an electorate divided between incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry (42%) and Democratic challenger Bill White (41%), with a significant bloc of voters (14%) still uncommitted to either candidate. Additionally, across partisan, ideological and geographic lines, broad support is expressed for homeowners’ insurance reform proposals.

The very last thing that those of us in in Texas need is more voter suppression!.

Suit filed against Harris County Voter Registrar. Again. In 2008, the Texas Democratic Party was forced to take legal action in Federal Court to protect Harris County voters from the inappropriate, partisan actions of former Voter Registrar Paul Bettencourt, whose office rejected tens of thousands of legitimate voter registration applications. As of September 2, 2010, The Texas Democratic Party is suing Leo Vasquez in his capacity as Harris County Tax Assessor Collector / Voter Registrar for the second time.

For more on the history of Leo Vasquez, who took over Paul Bettencourt’s position and his role in the latest problem, see TDP sues Tax Assessor again over voter registrations and Brains and Eggs says

They want to suppress the vote of people they suspect of opposing their agenda. In this case, as in most, that means assaulting the voting rights of the poor and minorities.

[…]

Bay Area Houston believes that the Harris County voter registrar, Leo Vasquez, should resign before being indicted by the US Department of Justice.

The Harris County commissioners approved Clerk Beverly Kaufman’s nearly $14 million emergency request for less than 25% of the necessary e-Slates to vote with, and she also included a rather large print order: 1.4 million paper ballots. PDiddie’s Brains and Eggs has the details.

As Harris County Democrats draw a bead on the Republican attacks on legitimate voter registration drives and concern themselves with the county’s response to the loss of all our voting machines in a fire, Neil at Texas Liberal had a brief Facebook exchange with Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on issues of election integrity.

The citizens of Harris County have every reason to be concerned that our elections will not be free and fair in 2010.

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Tags: Bill White, Brains and Eggs, Harris County, Houston, Huffington Post, Perry, Politics, Texas, Voter Suppression

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